I highly underestimated Mezzacorona’s sparkling wine. When I received the bottle, I fully intended to make a sparkling wine cocktail because I (incorrectly) assumed that compared to some of the more obscure bubbles I’ve been tasting, this quite popular “name brand,” with kind of a “party school” reputation would fall short of my sparkling wine bar. That’s not to say one couldn’t make a sparkling wine cocktail from this wine. Indeed, the Mezza website has a few fun cocktail recipes on their site. But one doesn’t necessarily need to. The Mezza di Mezzacorona Italian Bubbly may have a fun, quirky demeanor, but it can be enjoyed “seriously” as well. (However seriously one wants to take sparkling wine anyway…)

About the Wine: The Mezza di Mezzacorona Italian Bubbly is made from 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Bianco, and 10% Muller Thurgau grapes harvested from the Mezzacorona estate vineyards located at the foothill of the Dolomites in the Trentino Alto Adige.

For those who are unfamiliar with Muller Thurgau — because we’re all learning here — this is a fairly “new” grape breed, created by Herman Müller of Thurgau in 1882. It’s a cross-breed of Riesling and Madeleine Royale. It is the element in this particular sparkling wine blend that gives the wine a perceived sweetness (mostly on the finish; see notes below) due to its floral aromats. It’s mostly used in small percentages for blends such as this because of its lack of acidity and somewhat blandness (for lack of a better word at the moment) as a single-varietal wine.

After forming the initial single-varietal base wines, the Mezza di Mezzacorona Italian Bubbly was created using the methode charmat, the same method used to make Prosecco. (Learn more about methode charmat: Piecing together Prosecco.)

12% ABV

Flavor Profile: Again, I was prepared for this bottle of bubbles to be — to be quite frank — sickly sweet. So I was surprised when I popped the cork and there were very little aromatics emanating out of the bottle. Similarly, the color was quite faint — near clear with just a brush stroke of sunlight. Aromas in the glass were subtle, with the scent of seaside salinity as the center and the idea of fruits wafting around that core.

On the palate, the Mezza di Mezzacorona is quite clean, with an almost ocean-watery finish. Fruits are more pronounced on the palate than they were on the nose, but the most dominant was the flavor of citrus pith — lending an almost savory note to the wine. There’s an essence of some sour apple, but that’s really all I can say about fruit flavors — it really is that light.

Again, the finish is refreshing, almost “watery” for lack of a better word — what I really mean is that I was left as refreshed as if I’d just taken a cool sip of acqua fresca.

More Info: I received Mezza di Mezzacorona as a sample for review. (Cheers Mezza team!) For more information about Mezzacorona’s complete wine line up and to purchase wines directly, please visit the Mezzacorona website.

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